The Center on Food Security and the Environment is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Scholarly Publications
Dust pollution from the Sahara and African infant mortality
June 2020
Estimation of pollution impacts on health is critical for guiding policy to improve health outcomes.
Productivity Dispersion and Persistence Among the World's Most Numerous Firms
April 2020
Marshall Burke and fellow researchers study productivity in smallholder farms to understand variation across the adbundant but understudied firms.
Habitat fragmentation, livelihood behaviors, and contact between people and nonhuman primates in Africa
April 2020
Deforestation and landscape fragmentation have been identified as processes enabling direct transmission of zoonotic infections.
Other Publications
Data Science for Food Security
August 2017
Using agricultural and economic characteristics in African nations as test cases, new research by David Lobell and Marshall Burke demonstrates the use of satellite data to address the long-standing...
Climate Change and Conflict: Identifying the mechanisms
December 2011
Climate change will lead to massive conflicts, according to claims of such prominent sources as Sir Nicholas Stern and the US National Security Agency - claims repeated by the media.
News
Air Pollution's Connection to Infant Mortality
June 2020
The study of sub-Saharan Africa finds that a relatively small increase in airborne particles significantly increases infant mortality rates. A cost-effective solution may lie in an exotic-sounding...
Stanford researchers harness satellite imagery and AI to help fight poverty in Africa
May 2020
A new tool combines publicly accessible satellite imagery with AI to track poverty across African villages over time.
Indirect child casualties of conflict far outnumber direct combatant deaths in Africa
August 2018
More children die from the indirect impact of armed conflict in Africa than those killed in the crossfire and on the battlefields, according to a new study by Stanford researchers.
Events
A Conversation with David Beasley: Challenges of 21st Century Humanitarian Response
September 10, 2019
Please join us for a conversation with United Nations World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley, who will discuss "Challenges of 21st Century Humanitarian Response." The conversation...
Everything that Can Go Wrong in a Field Experiment (round 2)
February 19, 2016
The Global Development and Poverty Initiative (GDP) seminar series returns with a reprise of its most popular seminar last year.
Projects
Rules and tools for the econometric analysis of geocoded data
The increasing availability of high resolution geocoded data on key outcomes (e.g. incomes) and potential drivers of these outcomes (e.g.
English
Analyzing the role of subsidies in growing the Kenyan aquaculture sector
Food insecurity remains a critical issue across much of sub-Saharan Africa. In certain parts of the region, fish is sometimes the most accessible or affordable source of animal protein.
English
Understanding Fertilizer Effectiveness and Adoption in Zambia
This project will focus on the potential role of fertilizer in the intensification of maize production amongst Zambian smallholders.
English
Multimedia
Food Insecurity: A 21st Century Threat to Global Security and Stability
May 2018
Ertharin Cousin, Payne Distinguished Lecturer at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Visiting Fellow at the Center on Food Security and the Environment, presented her ongoing research on food insecurity as a global threat on...
Ertharin Cousin, Tales from the War on Hunger
February 2018
After the 2007 Global Food Crisis, President Barack Obama in his Inaugural Address committed to the world’s poor nations: “We pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed...
Can Africa rise to the challenge of feeding itself in the 21st century?
November 2017
Food security experts from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) gathered for the symposium "Can Africa rise to the challenge of feeding itself in the 21st century?" This is the first of our new Global Food Security Symposium...
People
Sam Heft-Neal Research Scholar, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford Department of Earth System Science 
